What to do when you see a coyote in Metro Vancouver

DH Vancouver StaffOct 10, 2014 11:48 am

It may be striking to see a coyote out and about in our urban environment, but they are actually natural residents in the area. With several sightings lately, here’s a bit of info about what to do when you see a coyote in Metro Vancouver.

“In B.C.’s Lower Mainland for example, there is estimated to be 2,000-3,000 urban coyotes,” explains the B.C. SPCA.

Having adapted to urban life thanks to the ease of traveling from deforested areas through cleared corridors for railway, highways, and hydro, coyotes have been making lives for themselves in Metro Vancouver for the past several years.

Coyotes seen roaming around the city are doing the same thing the rest of us are: Trying to feed our families to survive. Of course, coyotes go about this differently, and giving them a helping hand can do more harm than good.

“They primarily eat small mammals – rats, mice, shrews, voles, squirrels, and rabbits. Being opportunists, coyotes will also eat just about anything – garbage, compost, fallen fruit, seeds from bird feeders, and pet food,” adds the B.C. SPCA. Coyotes also like family pets, like cats and dogs.

Not only is it important to keep your pets safe from coyotes, but it is also important not to provide coyotes with food.

“Coyotes are normally very timid animals, but when human-food is involved they learn to be more comfortable around people and that can lead to conflicts,” Dan Straker, Urban Wildlife Programs Coordinator with Stanley Park Ecology Society told Vancity Buzz earlier this year.

Straker says if anyone encounters a coyote, the best thing to do is to put their arms over their head and yell “Go away coyote,” to both scare it and alert other people in the area.

Being vocal and scaring away the coyote will help it understand that it should be fearful of humans and not go to them for food.

Volunteers log the reports onto the map. In October so far there have been numerous sightings in Stanley Park and in the West End, as well as in Strathcona, and a pet attack in South Vancouver, among others.

Photo courtesy Colin Edington

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DH Vancouver Staff

Daily Hive is the evolution of Vancity Buzz, established in Vancouver in 2008. In 2016, the publication rebranded and opened newsrooms in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. Send story tips to [email protected]